Facebook and Twitter are by now very established arenas for social media marketing, but if your business relies heavily on imagery, Instagram is a great network to utilise.
Imagery now dominates social media and Instagram is the perfect platform to take advantage of this.
It’s popular too, with over 200 million monthly active users, its little wonder why it has become one of the most popular apps for both iPhones and Android handsets.
Visual content has always been a valuable tool in marketing. The combined use of smartphones and Instagram offers every business the opportunity to use pictures to engage customers in exciting new ways.
So here are a few tips to get you started with your business Instagram account.
1) Share pictures of your products.
The most simple and direct way to use Instagram for business is to share pictures of your products – this helps if you are in a line of work that involves great looking products and imagery such as clothing, retail, or the restaurant trade.
People love to browse in retail stores, and by sharing photographs of your products online, and linking to the product in your online shop, you allow them to see what you sell at their convenience.
You’ll have to be more creative if you run a service business like us at LCN (it’s challenging to come up with an image for ‘web space’ or a domain name), but there are still ways you can use Instagram. For example, a fitness instructor could share pictures of the gym and the equipment they use when training clients.
The Nandos instagram account is a great example of how to share product imagery
2) Share pictures of your staff.
One of the downsides of the global economy and buying over the Internet is that the personal touch can be lost.
People like to feel they know who they’re dealing with, and loyalty can grow if your customers feel they have a personal connection to you and your team.
Sharing pictures of your employees on Instagram is a great way to do this.
Mailchimp often include staff pictures, which helps get across their company culture
3) Share pictures of happy customers.
Personal recommendation (word-of-mouth) is one of the most powerful ways customers are influenced to buy. Recommendations via social media are what is known as ‘Social Proof’, and it’s a very effective way to engage new customers.
Sharing pictures of happy customers using your products can achieve the same result. You can use this idea in competitions and sales promotions.
For example, ask customers to send pictures of themselves using your products with a prize for the best entries.
For more information on Social Proof check out this post.
Starbucks frequently showcases its customers and their stories
4) Make people smile.
Another great way to make people think of your business in positive ways is simply to make them smile. More often than not, the most popular brands on social media, are the most entertaining.
Showing that you have a sense of humour can help you to stand out from the faceless competition and humanise your brand.
Sharing cute or funny pictures that are relevant to your industry helps to build the connection and remind people what you do.
If you’re lucky, great imagery could just go viral on social media sites, and this means you could reach thousands of potential new customers – for free!
5) Show what happens behind the scenes.
Consumers are increasingly interested in where products come from and how they are made.
Sharing pictures of your business premises and manufacturing process is a great way to satisfy their curiosity.
If customers feel they are being trusted to see behind the scenes their loyalty will grow.
Share pictures of the inner workings of your company, your staff hard at work, production lines, and what you and your team get up to at break time!
Conclusion
Instagram is a really simple social media platform, but it can be a very effective one with a huge potential for content to go viral.
Just remember to only post images relevant to your business and industry – your followers followed your company because they like your service or products, so they won’t react well to spammy irrelevant posts.
So install that Instagram app, get snapping and then work out the hardest part…. deciding what filer to use!
Your Say!
Do you follow brands on Instagram? If so, what sort of content do you look for?
If you have your own company Instagram account, send us the link in the comments below, we’d love to see it.